6/13/2018

Well it has been a adventurous year in the shop, we now have trademark licensing for US Air Force, US Marines and US Navy. Sale are on track seeing as the Navy is a new addition, we are still struggling to get out items found on Etsy especially with their new changes.

The web site has been updated with the newest craft fairs to date, these can be found under the craft fairs 2018 tab.

We are trying to make new items as time allows but with upcoming Craft Fairs on the list and guaranteed sales for some of the items I make through that avenue not a lot of new items are being posted in the Etsy Shops. I try as new items are created to add them to my Instagram feed, if you are not already following me follow this link: https://www.instagram.com/gabbysquilts/
and check out to see what is new, all items can be available to purchase just by emailing me if it is a item that I don't clearly mark as being put in one of the Etsy shops, if it is marked as a new Etsy item you can just check my profile for the Etsy link and follow that to make your purchase.

I am in love with this new shop I found on Etsy, I just love her items and I am sure quite a few people have already found her as well, her patterns for baby, kids and adult sweaters are very well written and easy to follow, can't wait to try out some more of her patterns, I have to finish the one I have started first thou, LOL, so because it isn't finished we can't post any pictures yet.

This has been completed just recently and will be relisted in the handmade shop as soon as time allows:

Well we have to sign off for today, I have to check orders and return emails. I will be back as soon as time allows, til then have a good start to summer and remember the sunscreen :)

February shop News

Finally finished the books for January, working a part time job now so it is a little bit more difficult to get the time to close the months books, but I guess NY state won't really care as long as they receive their sales tax payments on time, LOL

My military customers made a sizable contribution to the USO pot for the beginning of the first quarter, 2 more months to go and we will submit the donation. January s figure was $55.80, which is a really good figure for the beginning of the year.

I have been working on double sided embroidery for the embroidered wrist lanyards, US Marines are done and are on the table waiting to be sewn and have the hardware attached, I am still working on the positioning of the US Air Force ones but am hoping to have them done by the middle of the month, they are actually on the table for tomorrow but we will have to see how many orders come in for custom orders first before we make definite plans on doing them. Orders come before play in my shop, hahaha.

Found a really cute tutorial online for a rip + strip placemat tutorial, I am hoping to find time to give it a try, if you want to give it a go here is the link to follow to do your own:

Rip + Strip Placemat Tutorial


Well that's it for now, I promise I will return soon with any new things I find and worse case scenario it will be to update the running total for the USO donation for the Military, til then happy sewing :)

Shop News for the New Year

Hi Folks,

Well 2016 is off and running, most of the tax paperwork is done, final Military donation for the year was made and for the last quarter , with sales contributions of $69.90 from my military customers and I pitched in a final amount to get us to the $100 level. With the total donation for the year coming in at $598.00 my Military customers rocked the USO this year, hoping that 2016 we can do it again.

Looking at some different variations on what we are already carrying, with lanyard machine issues constantly cropping up I am forced to keep what we can make on the small side, so look for some new mini key fobs for the different branches with dual branch embroidery on both sides of the fob, I am going to see about making some small size quilts with coordinating fabric for the different branches and their logos and maybe if we have the time I can introduce personalized Christmas stockings this year.

We start this year off participating in a Team Event on Etsy, the Quiltsy Destash Party, please if you have the time and either sew or craft some real bargains can be had by shopping the stores participating, some are just cleaning their sewing rooms and others, like me, have had to down size to fit into smaller places when we moved over the past year.
Check it out here:

The Great Quiltsy Destash Party

Starting Date: January 15th, 2016

The party ends when its all gone!

Place: The Quiltsy Team Pages on Etsy

We are a team of quilting entrepreneurs dedicated to making quality products, advancing our love of quilting, and supporting each other. In 2016 we will be working to showcase new products and ideas, promoting our shops, and changing the way you think about quilting! All this creativity means we are opening our quilting studios up to you. Fabrics, Patterns, Quilt Books, and Kits are all available for the taking. We welcome you to start your shopping and browsing at any time by clicking on the links below.

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-quilt-books

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-patterns-and-kits

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/destash-fabric

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/exciting-new-fabrics-patterns-and-tools

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam/gifts-for-sewing-enthusiasts

Please also feel free to browse our handmade items as well at:

https://www.etsy.com/pages/quiltsyteam

Find us on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/QuiltsyTeam

Thanks for stopping by and giving us a look. Happy Shopping!

Shop News

We have some new items coming in from the supplier that will be loaded onto the web site, just got notification that they shipped so I can't wait.

Some of the new items are Fashion colored fun tapes, these will be coming in some really neat colors and would be perfect for gift giving for a sewing or crafty friend or maybe for yourself. The colors that the vendor has listed are fushia pink, melon orange, lime green, purple and blue, can't wait to see them.
Red Heart has introduced a new line of yarn called Scrubby and the notification from the supplier said all the colorways would be coming except for Royal blue, so look for these colors to be loaded as soon as they arrive; coconut, black, duckie yellow, orange, ocean blue, lime green, bubblegum pink, and cherry red. I have only seen the black and coconut and have made one scrubby from each of the skeins, my husband loves them for scrubbing his frying pan in the morning after making his bacon and eggs for breakfast. My daughter wants me to make her one for a exfoliating scrub for her face to see how that works, so that is the project for tonight :)

Military paperwork has been completed, the US Marine Corps just sent through the approval for licensing for another year and the royalty report for Air Force is complete and sent. The donation tally has been done and a check for $125.00 will be going to the USO as soon as I get a chance, and the total donation amount thus far for the next quarter is $29.00. Sales are down all across the board on Etsy so that is the reason for the low numbers, haven't seen sales numbers this low since early this year hoping it doesn't continue for too much longer.

Well we are done for now be back as soon as I can with anymore news of items or products that we found that are new and interesting or that I might have had the chance to finish making. Remember all these products are going to be added to my web site, which you can find here: http;//www.GabbysQuilts.com

Til next time :)

General News

Well it has been awhile since I have had a chance to write, alot of things are going on some good, some not so good.

Good:
My son is now officially enlisted in the Air Force, he can be call anytime after June 20th to do his basic training and from there go to where ever they need him to. He has chosen to work on the big plane engines, doing what I haven't the foggest idea, but as long as he is happy, that's all that matters. My daughters boyfriend has been in Greenland working on their networking issues most of the week, then sometime this year he is suppose to go south for 6 months for more training in his particular Air Force training, so things are finally on track for that.

I have started the signing up progress to get into the fall craft fairs, biggest problem there is that I only just found the listings and most of them are already filled in my area, so I have been putting myself on the waiting lists for cancellations, but if nothing else I can back track through my email and possibly get the ball rolling on these in January of next year so that I can do them next year.

My husbands work is going full steam ahead, which is good, but the bad part is no time to QUILT. I have been trying to fit in time for hand sewing, but sometimes there is no time at the end of day for even that. Someday when things slow down, I will be ready to sew, then watch out :)

Bad:

We are still struggling with medical paperwork for health coverage for my son til he goes into the Air Force. I have filled the applications out three times, and each time they come back to be refilled out again, because they can't find out in what tier we fit. At this rate, I am thinking he will probably get called out to do basic and I will get the call the next day that they have found what tier we fit in and we won't need it anymore. Oh well, such is life.

Everything else is going along, summer is coming, hopefully time lounging in a lawn chair looking out over a lake is in the future.
Til then, everybody have a gorgeous spring :)

Air Force and Craft Fairs

Well, no progress yet in enlisting my son. Went and got the required note from the doctor, but it was not worded right, so they want a second opinion. Son is going into school today, and will hopefully remember to set up a appointment with the nurse to have her check him out, a back up plan is to take him to the nearest clinic and see if it is something they can do. All this is delaying his processing, but we are doing the best we can do with what is given to us, he really wants this, so we are doing what we can to get him in.

On to better news, our first craft fair is coming up on Saturday. We have everything packed and ready, set up is at 8 am, and it starts at 10 and runs til 4. It will probably take that long to set up the racks for display of our items. My husband got these monsters given to him from a old blockbuster store when it closed, so he is bound and determined to use them, I just hope they aren't too much.

I am trying not to get my hopes up that I will be able to sell most of my things, but it would seem that when people can physically see and touch my quilted item they are more willing to buy them. I have been told by numerous people that my pictures on my web stores are not up to snuff. I have tried retaking them, but to no avail. Either the background is too dark, the quilts to big and they look like they were tossed into the picture, or they are just not clear pictures. I don't make enough money to pay a professional so I am hoping to sell all the inventory I have at the craft fairs I have signed up at, and shut the two handmade shops down by the end of the year. What is left will probably be given out as Christmas gifts and I do have graduations coming up as well, we shall see.